This is a blog for early childhood teachers looking for ways to expand and enrich play and learning in and around their sand and water tables with easy-to-make, low-cost apparatus. It may also be of interest for anyone who appreciates children's messy play.

About Me

Early childhood education has been my life for over 30 years. I have taught all age groups from infants to 5-year-olds. I was a director for five years in the 1980s, but I returned to the classroom 22 years ago. My passion is watching the ways children explore and discover their world. In the classroom, everything starts with the reciprocal relationships between adults and children and between the children themselves. With that in mind, I plan and set up activities. But that is just the beginning. What actually happens is a flow that includes my efforts to invite, respond and support children's interface with those activities and with others in the room. Oh yeh, and along the way, the children change the activities to suit their own inventiveness and creativity. Now the processes become reciprocal with the children doing the inviting, responding and supporting. Young children are the best learners and teachers. I am truly fortunate to be a part of their journey.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Starting simple

I worked in the field of early childhood education for 38 years. Over 30 of those years were spent in the classroom with children. When I began my career in a small, non-profit childcare center, I did not have a sensory table in my classroom. It took 10 years of teaching before I got a sensory table. At that point, I was hired by a public school district to be an infant/toddler teacher in a family education program. When I began to set up my new classroom, I found I had inherited a sensory table from the previous teacher. I actually inherited two sensory tables from her, one for sand and one for water. Both of them were very small.

As I started working with the sensory tables, I found them quite boring. That was especially true of the sand table. The setup was very basic: sand, shovels, scoops and pails. The children quickly tired of the setup and so did I. One of the first things I did to make the sensory table a little more interesting was to add an element or two to foster a little more play and exploration. One of the early additions was a cardboard box taped inside the table with an attached plastic chute.

This is a digital picture of a photo from over 25 years ago. I was already taking pictures back then, but because I was using rolls of film and because I was new at documenting, my pictures are not so plentiful and not so informative.

I said the table was small. It was a metal table that stood 10 inches off the ground and was a square that measured 2' x 2'. I did have a mat underneath that expanded the total sensory area to 4' x 4'. Needless to say, even the expansion did not create a big area.

One of the important elements of this setup is the five-gallon pail next to the table. If you look at the axioms in the right-hand column of this blog, the very first axiom states that children need to transport the sand out the table. The pail gives them the option to do it constructively. And, as many of you know from firsthand experience, without the bucket, the sand gets dumped on the floor.

My documentation on this apparatus is sparse. I usually like to go into some depth about how the children explored an apparatus. I cannot do that with this apparatus. All I can do is speculate.

I am struck by the simplicity of this setup: a cardboard box with a
plastic chute inside the table. Though it was a simple setup, it
created several spaces within the table that were intriguing invitations for
the children's operations.

In the picture below, there are four main spaces in which the children can operate. There is the pail and the the box. Both of these spaces can be considered spaces to fill and empty. There is the chute which allows the children to set the sand in motion. In addition, the chute creates a space underneath. If the children want to get sand by scooping underneath the chute, they have to figure out how to do that without bumping into the chute and without spilling. And there is the sand table itself. Interestingly, the cardboard box divides the sand table into different areas: there are areas on each side of the cardboard box and one in front of the box. The box is both a barrier and guide for the children to operate in that space. For instance, if a child wants to scoop sand with the white measuring cup, she has to move the cup laterally as defined by the edge of the cardboard box and the edge of the sand table.

When I started building apparatus, I had a birth-to-five classroom. In the pictures I have of this apparatus, there are three children of different ages (4, 3, and 1) all playing at the table at the same time. Not bad for a simple apparatus.

I started transforming my sensory table by building simple apparatus. If you are tempted to build, I would urge you to start with simple constructions, too. Though the structure might be simple, the children create their own complexity through play and exploration. Just imagine what the play would be like for these children in this tiny table without the box and chute.

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DIMENSIONS AND ELEMENTS FOR BUILDING IN AND AROUND THE SENSORY TABLE

When building apparatus for the sensory table, think in terms of the dimensions and elements listed below. Using the different dimensions and elements exponentially expands what can be built in and around the table.

1) ORIENTATION

a) Vertical

b) Horizontal

c) Incline

The incline can vary in degrees from slight to great.

2) LEVELS

Levels are important for children to experience space.

3) OPEN/CLOSED

4) SPACES

This follows from #2 and #3. Create spaces over, under, around and through the table. The spaces can be of various sizes to encourage exploration.

5) HOLES

Children need to put things in holes. Make holes of various sizes and shapes and on various levels.

AXIOMS OF SENSORIMOTOR PLAY

1) Children need to transport whatever is in the table out of the table.*Corollary to axiom 1

During the transporting, children will spill.

2) Children will explore all spaces in any given apparatus no matter how big or small.

*Corollary to axiom 2

More spaces equals more exploration.

3) Children will find all the different levels of play for any given apparatus.

*Corollary to axiom 3

Children will use all levels of play including the highest and the lowest---which includes the floor.

4) Children are naturally drawn to pouring, rolling, or sliding materials and objects down ramps, chutes, and tubes.

5) Children are compelled by nature to put things in holes.*Corollary 1 to axiom 5

Children will find every hole in and around an apparatus no matter how big or small.

*Corollary 2 to axiom 5

Children, whenever possible, will modify the holes of any given apparatus.

6) Children will try to stop or redirect the flow of any medium in the table for any given apparatus.

*Corollary to axiom 6

Children, whenever possible, will try to completely block the flow of any medium.

7) Children will always devise new and novel activities and explorations with the materials presented that are tangential to the apparatus itself.

8) Children will fill any and all containers with the medium or materials provided.

*Corollary to axiom 8

Children need to empty any and all filled containers.

9) Children will pursue their own unique physical challenges when working on, at or next to an apparatus.